This is a very very WIP post. It has only EPL comparisons right now and I’m adding data from other leagues to get more generic results.
Formations and player roles are a very fuzzy concept. We simplify things into 4-2-3-1s and 4-3-3s and right backs and centre forwards but within those simplifications there are many nuances to how different teams and different players function.
In this post, I try to quantify these and find teams who are set up similarly in various matches.
Refer to my post on similar players based on their spatial distributions.
The teams are clustered based on the max distance between players.
Each node at the end of this graph is a particular team playing in a particular match.
Cluster descriptions:
Cluster 1 is 3-4-2-1
Cluster 2 is 3-4-2-1 with a mix of various other 3 at the back formations
Cluster 3 is 4-3-3
Cluster 4 to 7 are a mix of various 4 at the back formations with a strong 4-2-3-1 element in all of them.
Cluster 8 seems to not have an underlying link with the formation.
I’ve picked a match from each of the clusters, and overlaid that match with data from all the player pairings with that match in that cluster. That gives a rough idea of how the teams played in that cluster.
I’ve also added some comparisons between clusters which feel slightly similar.
I plan to add data from La Liga, Bundesliga, Seria A, Ligue 1, and the Championship from 2017/18. A bigger set of matches with more diverse strategies might lead to different, and more general clusters?